There is a Benidorm that has nothing to do with the high-rises, and this is the week you can see it. The Virgen del Sufragio is the patron — the story goes that her image washed ashore on a burning boat — and the fiestas around her are the town's own, run by the peñas, the neighbourhood clubs, who spend the year preparing for it.
What to expect. The old town between the two beaches is the centre of it: bands playing the Benidorm hymns, floral offerings, processions, the peñas parading in their colours, fireworks over Poniente. Streets are strung with lights and flowers. Most of it happens outdoors and free, and it goes on late.
Practical bit. November in Benidorm is mild — high teens, often twenties — and the resort is at maybe a third of summer capacity, so rooms are cheap and restaurants are not booked out. The fiesta week itself is the exception; book that ahead. A hire car is worth it for Guadalest, Altea and the Algar waterfalls inland, all under an hour and all better out of season.
